Certain devices such as small volume projectors, wafer defect scanners, laser printers, document scanners, projectors and the like often employ one or more collimated laser beams that scan across a flat surface in a straight line path. These devices employ tilting mirrors to deflect the beam to perform the scanning. These tilting mirrors may be, or may include, Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (“MEMS”) devices.
A typical MEMS mirror includes a static portion, called a stator, and a rotating portion, called a rotor. The rotor rotates with respect to the stator, and serves as or carries the surface that performs the mirroring operation. Where electrostatic forces are used to cause the rotation of the rotor, drawbacks result from operation in ambient air pressure. It is thus desirable for the rotor to rotate in a low pressure or vacuum environment. Unfortunately, the designs of conventional MEMS mirror packages with an internal vacuum environment are complex, and the methods of manufacture even more complex, rendering the cost to produce such designs prohibitive for use in many scenarios.
Therefore, new designs of MEMS mirror packages with an internal vacuum environment, and new ways of manufacturing same, are desirable.